Sparks in the Crimson
by Crimson Raiden
Summary: AU/non massacre. Sakura ends up joining Itachi's Anbu squad as their medic. As time passes sparks start to fly between the two, how will these two manage to make this work? Characters kept up-to-date and as relevant as possible to the manga/anime despite the AU/non massacre setting.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of these characters.

Chapter 1:

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><p>Itachi Uchiha walked through the streets of Konoha as if he owned it. Whether or not he noticed the lingering stares women gave him as he walked past them and went about his day would remain his secret. Regardless if he did notice he did not act as if he did.<p>

When Itachi finally reached the Uchiha compound he was pleasantly surprised to see a flash of pink hair.

Unbeknownst to Sakura she was about to run straight into the chest of Sasuke's older brother, Itachi.

Sakura was having one hell of a morning. Firstly her idiotic teammate Naruto had completely skipped out on his post-mission check up that was mandatory and subsequently has resulted in the termination of their upcoming mission. She obliviously beat him to a bloody pulp, healed him and officially cleared him as fit for service.

It turned out Sasuke had done the exact same thing. Unbelievable. Both of them were fucking idiots. Due to their negligence she had ended up being assigned to be the medic in an Anbu team that were leaving today. In a rage filled frenzy she was ready to beat the hell out of Sasuke.

Sakura was so lost in thought she bumped straight into Itachi's chest, **hard.** Then proceeded to fall backwards. Itachi's arm shot out and caught her by the waist to prevent her falling over. Her eyes immediately looked upwards to see the amused face of Itachi Uchiha.

Shit. She had run straight into _THE _Itachi Uchiha like an idiot.

Despite being Sasuke's teammate for so long she had rarely ran into Itachi. She knew he was extremely busy being the Anbu captain. She supposed she never saw him since he joined Anbu so young and most Anbu shinobi were known to have limited free time.

Once she got a good look at his face she realised that he was a ridiculously good looking man. Immediately she felt the heat rise up on her cheeks as she promptly turned red.

"I'm so sorry Uchiha-san! I was so lost in thought I didn't even notice you there.", mumbled an embarrassed Sakura.

"It is quite alright Haruno-san", replied the amused Uchiha. "May I enquire as to the reason you are so preoccupied?"

"Oh..well." began Sakura. She then felt her anger rise again when she remembered why . "That idiot Sasuke skipped out on the health check after our last mission! So Team 7's mission was officially cancelled".

"Ah. Perhaps I should take you to see him to share the mission status with him" offered Itachi, still amused by her mood change.

"That would be acceptable, thank you."

Itachi led Sakura towards the main entrance of the Uchiha compound only to be greeted by Mikoto Uchiha.

"Hello Okaa-san" drawled Itachi.

"Hello Mikoto-san!" greeted Sakura cheerfully.

"Where are you two off to?" The glint in the Uchiha matriarchs' eyes was clearly evident.

Mikoto loved Sakura immensely, from the moment she first met her. Sakura was pretty sure that Mikoto wanted her to become her future daughter in law.

"We are going to pay a little visit to Sasuke. I will see you shortly Okaa-san"

Sakura simply nodded and continued to follow Itachi to wherever Sasuke's stupid hiding place was.

When she finally walked into what she surmised to be his room with Itachi, he realised he was in for it.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE PLAYING AT UCHIHA?"

"….Hn?"

"Do NOT hn at me you idiot!" Sakura then punched him in the stomach with chakra.

"What the hell Sakura!" grunted Sasuke in pain.

"Naruto I can understand being a moron, but you….I'm just shocked. You've been hanging out with Naruto for too long!"

"I.."

"No. You know the rules. After every A rank mission you have to be cleared off by a medic as fit to fight. End of. So now because of your stupidity I'm going on my first Anbu mission without you two" Sakura sighed.

"You're going without us?!" Sasuke was not happy about this it seemed.

"Yes I am. Today"

"In fact little brother, Haruno-san will be joining my Anbu team" Interjected Itachi calmly, thoroughly amused by the series of events unfolding in front of him. Sasuke usually would remain quite composed around him. This kunoichi was able to stir up emotions within her teammates it appeared.

"The hell you are!" Sasuke spluttered. How could she be the first one to go on an Anbu mission, least of all with his brother! This was unacceptable.

"Are you telling me what to do Uchiha? After causing this whole thing? Really?" reprimanded Sakura.

"…No" Sasuke frowned.

"I didn't think so". A satisfied Sakura then turned to Itachi and looked at him.

"Am I really joining your Anbu unit for this mission today Uchiha-san?" asked Sakura dumbfounded.

"Ah. That would be correct Haruno-san"

"..I am quite surprised, this is quite an honour Uchiha-san"

"Why? You are the best medic nin in Konoha aside from Hokage-sama. There is no need to be surprised.", replied Itachi with a small smile on his face. "I will see you at Konoha's main gates by 4pm Haruno-san"

"Hai, I will see you then" Sakura replied politely whilst nodding and smiling back at Itachi.

Itachi walked away from Sakura and Sasuke and closed the door behind him. Sakura Haruno was certainly an interesting kunoichi he thought to himself. She also did not understand why he would want her on his team, which was humorous. Perhaps she had been around his foolish little brother and Naruto-san for far too long and her talents had not been appreciated as much in that team. Nevertheless adding her to their team would definitely be intriguing.

Once Itachi had walked away, Sasuke turned to look at Sakura. His brother had just complimented her for her skill as a kunoichi. To say that Sasuke was surprised was an understatement. It wasn't that he didn't know that Sakura was a powerful kunoichi, he just didn't realise that Itachi had noticed that as well.

"Be careful Sakura, my brother's team doesn't mess around." He said quietly.

"Of course I will, what do you take me for?" She said, silently hurt by his lack of faith in her.

"Itachi never fails a mission, ever. I just want you to know what you let yourself in for, that's all". Sasuke sighed.

"Yeah well _I_ don't allow missions to fail if I can help it. Now if you will excuse me I have a mission to pack for", Sakura stormed off.

Well she was clearly not happy about his little advice. Great…now he would have to deal with a super pissed off Sakura when she returned. He had better warn Naruto about her mood with then. This would not be pleasant for either of them.

They all wanted to complete their first Anbu mission with each other as a team. They were all still training to take the Anbu exam, so for Sakura to be picked to join an Anbu mission with Itachi let alone without having passed the exam was truly an honour.

However the criteria needed to become a medic nin was quite specific, as a result there weren't that many shinobi that were able to fight as well as perform the healing duties in the team. So many medic nins that were placed in teams were required to not take part in any physical fights during the mission. Ultimately this could be a strength or weakness depending on the shinobi placed within the team. Sasuke had just wanted her to know that Itachi would most likely not expect her to participate in any physical contact with any enemy they encountered. Their usual formations would not account for a fourth member that engaged with with enemy.

But on Itachi's team Sakura would potentially be an essential member of the team depending on how this mission went. If that were the case then Sakura may be permanently moved from Team 7 to Anbu Team Ro.

His onyx eyes narrowed at the thought. He would not allow that to happen, he would ensure that Sakura would remain on Team 7 no matter what.

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><p>Thanks for reading the first chapter of my story! I hope this gives you all a good taste of what is about to come =]<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone that reviewed, clicked to favourite or followed this story! =]**

**Thanks to the following reviewers, it's really encouraging to read any kind of feedback:**

**Twisted Musalih- well you have more now =] yayyy hope you like it.**

**Sakura Hatsu- thanks! Yes those two are terribly lazy! Shame on them hehe. **

**beautiful-note2895- thanks! Oh not quite yet, he is a tiny bit cold so he might need a little more convincing before he does. **

**In my mind this is what would have happened if the Uchiha massacre did not occur.**

**This is the second chapter of the story, so I hope you all enjoy it.**

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><p>Chapter 2:<p>

Sakura returned to her average sized apartment that was near the hospital, with her mind still wondering back to her earlier encounter with Uchiha-san and Sasuke.

Seriously this was so embarrassing.

First she had bumped straight into him like an amateur shinobi. This was then followed by blushing at him openly. Why did her Anbu captain have to be such an attractive man?

"Argh why do I have to be so self-conscious around Uchiha-san!" Sakura screamed in frustration to herself, "I might as well be 12 again with that stupid crush on Sasuke".

Sakura groaned at the thought of being the way she used to be when she was younger with Sasuke, around the older Uchiha. He would never take her seriously as a shinobi if she continued to behave like an idiot around him.

Sakura had finally managed to become recognised as a powerful kunoichi. In fact she had just recently surpassed Tsunade-shishou, in terms of medical jutsu's. This by no means meant that she was stronger than the Hokage. Strength and power depended upon how the person used it. But this did mean she was close to finally proving to everyone that called her weak, that she was now a strong ass kunoichi that no longer required protection from dangerous situations. They could stare at her back while she was the one protecting them.

She then turned to notice there was an envelope on the floor by her front door. She walked over to pick it up. Upon inspection she noticed her name "Haruno" was written on the front in extremely neat handwriting. Once she opened it and began to read it she felt her heart rate start to increase slightly.

_Dear Sakura Haruno,_

_I am to believe you do not possess an official Anbu uniform. For that reason I have made an appointment for you to receive one from Anbu headquarters located by the east river. After the amusing encounter earlier I realised my mistake in not informing you earlier, I apologise. _

_Additionally I would kindly ask you to keep this information hidden from anyone and everyone, as anonymity is key here in Anbu. This will be approximately a week long mission to the Hidden Waterfalls Village, so pack appropriately. _

_I shall see you shortly. _

_Kind regards,_

_Itachi Uchiha. _

Sakura just stared blankly at the note. He wrote her a note…..

Her face promptly turned pink as she clutched the note close to her.

Of course his handwriting was so neat and perfect. Everything about him was bound to be. The note was probably Itachi being thorough and organised. It was silly to start getting excited about it.

The sound of a loud knock at her door caused her to hurriedly shove the note in the back pocket of her short black medic skirt. She walked towards the door and opened it. Sakura was greeted by a pair of blue eyes and blonde hair styled in a high ponytail.

"Forehead, where have you been?" Ino was always so loud.

"Pig I have been busy!" Sakura snapped back. Both women smiled at each other.

"Pssht busy my foot. You have no excuse for avoiding me for so many days". Ino stepped around Sakura into the apartment.

Sakura blinked, feeling a bit bad for not seeing her best friend in to so long. "Actually pig I have to leave for another mission today….." She began to explain.

"Whatever" Ino turned around dismissively. It was then she noticed a white piece of paper half sticking out of Sakura's skirt, with her name printed on it.

"Oooh what's this?" Ino quickly grabbed the note before Sakura even realised what she was referring to.

As Ino began to read the note out loud "Dear Sakura Haruno, I am to believe…", Sakura quickly sprung into action. Good lord she could not let her read classified information 5 minutes after she had found out this information herself.

Ino dodged and ducked as she tried to continue to read the note.

"Oi forehead I'm still reading this!"

"It's not for your eyes pig!" Sakura snorted derisively.

Sakura managed to finally pry the note from Ino's fingers, but unfortunately Ino had succeeded in seeing who the note was from. Shit.

"Itachi Uchiha?!" Ino spluttered. "You are keeping secret love notes from him? Damn he is one hot ass guy, how the hell did you manage THIS?"

Ino continued excitedly, "You should really get on top of this, and him!".

Sakura just choked on air in response.

Damn it all to hell.

This is the worst thing that could have possibly happened. _Ever. _

Ino had the biggest mouth in all of Konoha. By the time she would return from this mission everyone would think she was having a secret liaison with Itachi Uchiha.

Sakura managed to recover from her coughing fit to spit out "NO that is a mission note that's all!"

"Er right. No one sends mission notes" Ino clearly wasn't buying it.

"N..no really!" the pink haired kunoichi desperately protested. "He didn't have time to tell me something, that's all! Get your mind out of the gutter!"

"Since when do you have missions with the Anbu captain?" One of Ino's eyebrows was raised as she looked at Sakura with a dubious expression.

"…." Well Sakura was clearly buggered. There was no explaining that.

"Have you seen him? He is a sexy, handsome, hot god of a man! How can you not jump him?"

"Not all of us are pigs," muttered Sakura. Why oh why couldn't a large hole appear in the ground in front of her right that second? This was not a conversation she wanted to have.

Ino snorted "More like not all of us are sexually deprived over here. When was the last time you even went on a date? Do you even feel attracted to anyone ever forehead?"

"Hey! That's just uncalled for" It was sulking time now.

"Is it though? As you way more attractive best friend I'm trying to help you. Open your eyes and see the fine male population out there. You're only 18 years old and you are acting as if you are 90….jeez forehead even Hinata is making more progress than you and she faints in the presence of Naruto".

"Look here pig, I have barely spoken to Uchiha-san so get this weird idea out of your head" She sighed.

Ino resumed her monologue describing the attractiveness of Itachi. Again. This was _so_ not helping Sakura in the slightest.

"Okay Ino you HAVE to leave immediately. I'm going to leave for my mission very soon and you are going to make me late. Well it was nice seeing you, I will see you when I'm back". Sakura pushed Ino out the door as she was talking, "Bye pig!".

Finally once Ino was out of the door Sakura shut the door hard behind her and sighed. She should not be thinking about him in this way right before they were going to go on a mission together.

Sakura shook her head and tried to clear any thoughts of her Taichou.

She turned to look at the clock in her living room and saw the time. It was already 2.30pm, so she had better pack quickly and head out towards the east river. She silently wondered if Itachi would be there when she got there.

So much for not thinking about him.

Sakura mentally slapped herself and promised to just act indifferent around him. Anbu was a big deal and she was not about to mess it up because of her stupid hormones deciding to wake up at the worst time ever.

_Much earlier that day:_

"_Tsunade-shishou please don't cancel this mission!" Sakura begged. _

"_I cannot deem all of Team 7 fit to fight, so I'm afraid this mission will be passed onto Team Asuma" The Hokage's voice muttered through the high piles of papers scattered around her desk. _

"_Not them…". The look of disappointment was clear to see on Sakura's face. _

_Tsunade sighed. "I know you were looking forward to seeing Suna again and aiding in their new hospital system immediately. But it will require several days of travelling. Team Asuma are ready to go and are in good condition to travel. __**All**__ of Team Kakashi clearly not". _

"_But…" Inside Sakura was seething; she was going to kill her boys. They had better run. __**Fast. **_

"_Do not question my decision again Sakura" Tsunade demanded. Fierce brown eyes met bright green ones. _

_Tsnuade-shishou was usually soft and calm with Sakura, however when she was serious she was indeed fearsome. _

"_Hai". Sakura began to turn around and walk away. _

"_Oh and Sakura?" hummed Tsunade with a light tone in her voice. _

"_Yes?" She turned around slowly. Sakura's eyes began to gleam with a lining of hope that shishou could have changed her mind. _

"_Tell the person outside to come in here once you leave" Tsunade smirked knowing exactly what kind of effect she was having on her old apprentice. _

_The pink haired kunoichi responded through gritted teeth, "….hai". _

_Okay now Sakura was super annoyed. Shishou totally did that on purpose to wind Sakura up. Despite knowing this, it still managed to wind Sakura up even more. _

_Sakura stormed off and slammed the office door shut hard behind her. Without looking at the person waiting outside, she muttered to the Anbu member seated outside in the waiting room that it was their turn now and sulked off towards to the exit. _

_A pair of dark eyes watched as Sakura left, then stood up silently to enter the Hokage's office. Due to the previous occupant slamming the door shut so hard the hinges had become fastened to the wall, it was completely stuck. _

_The Anbu member lifted their white mask adorned with red marking to resemble an animal off their face and began hand seals. _

_Meanwhile Tsunade was sat flicking through the pile of new mission requests and when she looked up she was not pleased at all. _

_Her office door, or what was once her door, went flying across the middle of the large room and turning to ash in front of her. Her previous gleeful mood __**literally**__ went up in smoke. _

"_Why…you…little…" Began Tsunade between gritted teeth. _

"_It appears as though your door was broken, Hokage-sama" The Anbu shinobi calmly responded. _

"_So you used a __**fire **__jutsu to fix it?" She lifted an eyebrow at the arrogant little Uchiha kid. _

"…"

"_Uchiha, silence is not a response". She almost sweat dropped. Almost. _

"_It would simply waste time to attempt to enter another way, Hokage-sama" _

_Tsunade placed her face in her hand and sighed loudly for the second time in 10 minutes. _

'_Seriously, these young shinobi truly annoy me. Good lord. I need some sake right now', she thought to herself. _

"_Just report Uchiha" waving her hand flippantly. The sooner he left the quicker she would be drinking sake. Sweet, warm and delicious sake. _

"_Our medic was incapacitated during our mission and is currently in the hospital getting treated. Otherwise the mission was successful" _

"_Great. All qualified medics are currently occupied within their own teams Uchiha. Your team has another mission later today correct?"_

"_Ah" His impassive face looked unfazed as he agreed. _

'_Where the hell am I going to find another medic so quickly' Tsunade pondered to herself. Suddenly her brown eyes snapped up with realisation appearing on her face. This worked out well._

"_Oh you are in luck Uchiha. There happens to be one of the best medic nins I have in the division currently available". _

_However seeing the bad mood Sakura was in, she did not want to call her back in again. Sakura unfortunately seemed to have inherited her temperament when angry. Yet the pink haired kunoichi did not seem to have her ability to drink anyone under the table. Pity. A good drinking partner would be fun. _

"_Go find Sakura Haruno and tell her she has a mission with your team. I am not in the mood to deal with any of you right now. You will brief her ", she snapped at him._

"_Hn". Pleased that the mission would continue as planned, he made his way out._

_He was almost out of the 'door' before she managed to add something else. _

"_Oh and Itachi, I'm billing you personally for the damn door" Tsunade hollered. _

'_Stupid Uchiha" she muttered quietly to herself once he had swiftly made his exit. _

"_Shizune! Bring me the emergency sake immediately!" she paused for a moment only to follow with, "Oh and find me a new door!". _

"…_A new…what?" a now puzzled Shizune surely was hearing things. Perhaps Tsunade-sama had too much sake already. Oh boy. It was too early in the day to be completely hammered._

"_You heard me. NOW" Tsunade's voice bellowed through the floor. _

"_H..Hai!" Shizune spluttered._

_After the meeting with the Tsunade:_

Itachi jumped away from the Hokage's tower in record speed before Tsunade-sama decided to call him back and pummel him into the ground. Perhaps antagonising the Godaime was a bad idea.

Once he was safe enough distance away he began his walk towards the Uchiha compound. At the thought of the compound his face started to turn into a frown. Hopefully his father would not be present. It had been such a relief to be away from the clan for a while. Actually it was lucky for him that he had been going on back-to-back missions for a few months and avoided those ridiculously tiresome clan meetings.

Although it was clear to him that the clan was noticing his continued absence from the meetings and they were not best pleased. Quite frankly he did not care in the slightest what the clan elders thought, they would just have to deal with it. He was a Konoha shinobi first and the clan heir second.

He was the Uchiha heir and they would have to follow what **he** thought when he took over. Evidently his father was not forceful enough in telling those old bastards to back off and stop attempting to interfere so heavily in his life. The endless demands were unrealistic and purely for the benefit of the Uchiha clan. It would not be a shame if the clan elders happened to drop dead anytime soon. His mind began to drift to other areas of his life they were starting to interfere in as well. His personal life.

Recently Itachi's father had mentioned that the clan elders felt as he was 23 years old he should really be dating someone now, so he could be married by 25 years old. Once he turned 25, he was expected to take over as the head of the clan. Eventually Itachi knew he would have to find a wife and if he didn't start making progress with that, the clan elders would start taking matters into their own hands and find a wife for him. The last thing he wanted was a mindless fan girl that clearly liked the fame that came with being an Uchiha. HE would have to endure that for life, which was a repulsive thought.

Itachi sighed out loud.

He finally reached the outside of the compound and he stopped to look at the entrance of the Uchiha gate that was engraved with the clan symbol on both sides of it. Itachi started thinking of his upcoming mission.

The Godaime had ordered him to inform Sakura Haruno of the mission they had to leave for later today. However he didn't have the faintest idea where she would typically be at this time of day. After all he did see her storm off in an angry manner from the Hokage's office. It would be unlikely she would be in the hospital treating patients in that state.

He was very aware of Sakura's abilities as a medic and had seen it before, however he had not seen her capabilities on the battlefield first hand. It was well known that she had killed Sasori from the Akatsuki when she was only 15 years old. This was quite an impressive feat at such a young age. It would be interesting to observe her capacity on missions himself.

Perhaps his foolish little brother would be able to locate her for him seeing as they were on the same team.

Just as he was about to take a step further towards the compound he heard the noise coming closer towards him. Just as Itachi turned his body around to observe the origin of the noise behind him he was greeted with a flash of pink in his vision.

Well well…luck was truly in his favour today. He almost smirked unabashedly. Almost.

There was only one person that had pink hair in the whole village.

However she clearly hadn't noticed him at all. In the quick moment it took for him to realise who she was, Sakura had managed to run straight into his chest and began to fall over. Itachi's reflexes were razor sharp and caught her before she could hit the floor.

It turned out he had managed to grab her around her waist, instead of her arms. Itachi inwardly sighed. Maybe luck wasn't _completely_ on his side today. He glanced down to her face to see that the pink tinge of a blush was beginning to form on her cheeks.

Ah so she was embarrassed by the placement of his arm as well.

Itachi removed his arm from her body carefully with an amused smirk on his face.

Sakura had already begun her explanation, "I'm so sorry Uchiha-san! I was so lost in thought I didn't even notice you there".

Itachi did not care she had bumped into him at all. In fact she had saved him from wasting time trying to locate her himself. Otherwise he would have to ask for a favour from his little brother, which he did not want to do if he could help it. Although he already knew she was so distracted because she was angry from earlier, he couldn't help but be a little curious why that was the case.

"It is quite alright Haruno-san. May I enquire as to the reason why you are so preoccupied?"

Sakura had no idea why he looked so amused. Did he notice she was blushing like an idiot at him? But her embarrassment quickly faded and turned into anger as soon as he asked her why she was so angry. Thankfully in her mind his amused face was quickly forgotten and replaced with anger.

Itachi watched Sakura as she changed from one mood to another mood immediately. Her large green eyes were shining were clear annoyance whilst updating him. Her jaw was slightly tense and the fists at her sides were tightly clenched.

She did not realise that he had been there when she broke the Godaime's door in frustration. This only served to increase Itachi's amusement further.

Ah so his foolish little brother and the loud little blonde friend were the problem.

Her anger was understandable. He would be also have been furious if his mission was cancelled and marked as unsuccessful mission on his official record. In order to become a member of Anbu it was more favourable that you possessed a zero to very low mission failure rate. His little brother had declared his interest in joining Anbu and more importantly how he would be soon surpassing him numerous over their family dinners. It was laughable Sasuke thought he could beat him, Itachi had become Anbu captain at 13 years old. At 18 years old Sasuke was still only a jonin, although he was a strong capable shinobi that was powerful in his own right, he would always be compared to Itachi. Unfortunately for Sasuke their parents would not be able to see his accomplishments as legitimately on par with Itachi until he joined Anbu and became a captain.

It would be entertaining to see what her reaction would be when she finally saw Sasuke. Clearly she had come here to reprimand Sasuke, maybe he should take her to him. Itachi's mouth turned upwards into a small smirk. Entertaining indeed.

"Ah perhaps I should take you to see him to share the mission status with him"

Sakura had politely agreed and nodded at him, "That would be acceptable, thank you".

He led the way towards Sasuke with Sakura in tow.

Itachi usually wasn't one to use other people's misery as a source of enjoyment for him, but just this once he would allow it. This would provide him the necessary relief he needed before he had to deal with the clan elders again. He hadn't informed them he was leaving on another mission so soon.

Again.

It seemed that Itachi really knew how to enrage those older than him today.

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><p><strong>So I tried to tie in the first introduction chapter to this one so you guys can see how everything had really unfolded. <strong>

**The next chapter will have another Itachi and Sakura interaction. **

**Feel free to leave a review and let me know what you think =]**


	3. Chapter 3

**Firstly I would like to apologise for the big delay in posting an update, personal stuff took up a lot of time. But I still feel pretty bad! Next chapter will be posted much faster. **

**I hope you all like where this story is going. It would be nice to have feedback so I can improve as a writer. But I do have a good enough idea as of right now where this will end up. It will have quite a few chapters by the time it is completed. **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3:<strong>

Sakura had packed her spare jonin uniform, along with her kunai, senbon, medical kit and her home made soldier pills at a record level of speed. Her little conversation with Ino had wasted a lot more time than she had anticipated. Not to mention her traitorous thoughts had decided to get a little carried away and daydream for far too long about a certain someone.

The walk to the Anbu headquarters involved passing the path of pretty trees and brightly coloured flowers. It was nice and pleasant walk that allowed Sakura some time to think and compose herself.

Sakura's feet stop moving as she paused and thought to herself, 'Maybe I have been single for far too long, and this is just a case of realising I want to date. That's all it is. Nothing to worry about'.

Since her stupid crush on Sasuke when she was 12 years old she hadn't actually felt anything for anyone or dated. Ino always made fun of her for that. But improving considerably as a kunoichi was worth it.

The sound of leaves rustling near her made her immediately alert.

Someone had run past her.

Was that blond hair?

Sakura's eyes narrowed. Oh she knew that blond head anywhere.

"Naruto! Don't you dare avoid me!" threatened Sakura darkly. Clearly Sasuke had told Naruto to avoid her like the plague. Traitor.

Naruto had no choice but to stop running and turn around. He would only be more dead later. So he cautiously walked back towards Sakura ensuring there was enough of a distance between them so she couldn't hit him. Sakura-chan was violent when she was mad.

"H..hey Sakura-chan! I wasn't avoiding you…..I was just in a rush to go somewhere" nervously laughed Naruto.

"Oh really? What's the rush?" Sakura's face became stern as she looked at him irritably.

"Um…the….ramen stand is having a sale!" he declared proudly. Naruto was quietly praising his quick thinking.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "The ramen stand doesn't have sales" Clearly he thought she was stupid.

"How would you know that?"

"Obviously if there was a ramen sale YOU would eat everything there and they would run out of ramen indefinitely"

"You're mean" frowned Naruto.

"I'm not mean. Besides god forbid there was a ramen sale. You would live there and force Sasuke and I to eat there all the time"

"What's wrong with that?" Naruto was genuinely puzzled.

"I would die, that's what is wrong" Sakura groaned, "That much ramen isn't healthy for anyone".

Naruto grinned widely, "Look at me, I ended up fine! Ramen is the best food to eat at all times"

"Er I'm not so sure you are a good example of 'fine' Naruto…"

"Oi! What is that supposed to mean Sakura-chan?"

"You're the kind of idiot that doesn't get a medical clearance in time for a really important mission for my career or his own"

Damn.

Naruto was really hoping she would get side tracked and forget about that. No such luck.

He sheepishly put his arm behind his head and starting nervously laughing "Ah ha well the thing is..me and teme totally forgot that we had to do that".

"…..You have got to be kidding me!" Sakura's voice reached a new level of loud at this point.

Crash.

Sakura had quickly flash stepped towards Naruto with her arm upwards. Before he knew it all he could feel was pain in his rib cage and the sound of a loud crack was heard.

Naruto was lying in the newly created hole in the ground with two of his ribs broken.

"You totally deserve that"

"Why didn't teme get broken ribs?" whined Naruto.

"I would have broken his house and then I would have to deal with the wrath of the Uchiha clan" Sakura explained, "Besides Uchiha-san was right there and I don't think he would let me beat his little brother in front of him"

Naruto stayed on the ground and pondered for a moment.

She had said 'his little brother' and 'Uchiha-san' so Sakura must have been talking about Itachi.

"Haha you might be right. Does that mean he will still get a punch from you too?" he sounded rather hopeful.

"Hell yeah, you can bet your life on it. After my mission I will get him too" Sakura darkly promised.

"What mission?" Naruto questioned. His face looked as if were thinking hard. He was pretty sure that Sasuke had told him their mission was now cancelled.

"None of your damn business" she huffed.

"You have to tell me!"

"No I don't"

"Yes you do!"

"No I don't" she sounded exasperated, "So you can just lie there until someone sees you and takes you to the hospital or you can go there yourself"

"You're not going to heal me?" Naruto pouted innocently.

"No chance" Sakura snorted, turning her head away from him indignantly.

"Am I forgiven now?" he said with a sincere tone in his voice.

She turned to look back at him again. Sakura's anger was quickly subsiding when she saw Naruto looking slightly guilty "Maybe..I will let you know when I'm back"

"That's good enough for me! Have a safe mission Sakura-chan" Naruto carefully stood up and winced at the feeling of his broken ribs.

Sakura walked over to him and pressed a green finger against his chest.

"I only healed it a little bit okay? So you still definitely have to go to the hospital"

Naruto smiled warmly at her, "Thanks Sakura-chan". He knew she was soft with him deep down.

"I have to go for my mission now Naruto-kun. Oh and don't warn Sasuke that I'm going to punch him" Sakura warned.

"Trust me I will be there to watch you do it" Naruto wasn't about to turn down a chance to watch Sasuke get punched by their pink haired teammate.

Sakura waved bye to him and sped of into the direction of the east river quickly.

Finally when Sakura had reached the location Itachi had told her to go to she was a little surprised. She had been expecting something a little more extravagant.

The Anbu headquarters was not well lit at all and overly spacious. Her green eyes scanned the room carefully and squinted to see what was in the far corner of the room. There appeared to be dent in the wall that looked like a reception window.

Oddly enough there was nothing else there at all. No sofa, no sign, no plant, no shinobi, no nothing. Just a big ass room. What the heck. She was definitely expecting something cooler than this!

Sakura hesitantly stepped towards a dark looking reception window. It appeared no one was there. Now what was she going to do. It didn't look like anyone was going to be strolling this empty place conveniently and she would need to leave on the mission soon. Sakura hated being late. It did not leave a good impression.

"Haruno-san" A smooth masculine voice rang through her ears. It could only belong to one person, Itachi.

Apparently she had been wrong about being alone then. Now she got to be alone with him. Again.

"Uchiha-san" she simply nodded at him.

Itachi had managed to silently appear behind her and talk to her before she could tell her was there. Sneaky little ninja he was. Sakura simply stood still waiting for him to say something or give her any instruction. After waiting for a good enough amount of time, Sakura grew a little impatient.

Sakura inwardly starting thinking, 'Why isn't he saying anything? Argh. What am I supposed to do now?'.

She decided to look at him. Maybe then he would say something.

Apparently that wasn't going to happen, so Sakura continued to wait patiently until someone else decided to show up at the window she was stood near.

One dark eyebrow rose upwards slowly.

Now that Itachi was looking directly at her with one eyebrow raised Sakura decided she had better say something.

"Er….yes?"

"Are you going to stand there gawking or come inside to get your uniform?" Itachi said curtly.

"Come inside where?" Now Sakura was confused. There was nothing here, so what was he talking about. She also didn't appreciate the way he said that to her.

Itachi sighed, "Genjutsu". He brought both of his hands upwards.

A few rapid hand seals later and the entire room started to shift into a totally different looking place. It was much brighter and had markings on the walls in seemingly random order. But seeing as this was Anbu it was most likely not random. There were sofa chairs arranged around the edges of the room.

Sakura blinked, "OH...I didn't realise". Oh boy now she felt stupid. Of course Anbu would be extra secretive about stuff.

"Sorry, I should have realised that" Sakura replied sheepishly.

"Ah, you should have".

Itachi added further "Luckily our team for the mission is equipped with high level genjutsu shinobi. So your weakness in that area isn't detrimental for us".

'Wait, _what? _That arrogant little…..'

Sakura's angry side was about to come out and unleash a world of pain on him if he wasn't careful. He had been standing around not saying anything when he knew how this stupid Anbu room worked.

However her angry thoughts were disrupted by the sound of Itachi talking again.

"You are wasting time Haruno", Itachi stated coolly.

Well that was one way to subdue her attraction to him. He was a jerk.

Sakura just smiled darkly at him in response.

Oh he had just helped her immensely (not that he knew that), by being his arrogant self. She would have no problem being herself on this mission now. Screw how pretty this jerk was.

"Sakura!"

Genma strode in with his signature grin and senbon in his mouth.

Sakura grinned, "Genma, aren't you usually in the hospital harassing my nurses at this time?"

Genma nervously laughed, with his eyes quickly darting towards Itachi, "Ah Sakura I _never _do that".

"Yes you do. All. The. Time. Actually I have to threaten you with a chakra-filled punch before you finally leave" deadpanned Sakura with her hands now placed on her hips.

Itachi watched the exchange between the two, noting that they appeared close. He then decided to give Genma a serious look.

"Soooo what is my favourite medic doing here?"

Genma changed the subject swiftly before Itachi decided to give him more 'training' sessions to occupy his time instead of being around the nurses in their cute little outfits. Training sessions were more like hell than actual training.

"Uniform" Itachi quickly cut in and answered before Sakura did. He did not need their chit chat to continue any further.

"Ah yes for our mission together. Want me to help you out?" offered Genma with a smile.

"That would be great!" Sakura replied enthusiastically, "Some people were quite unhelpful with that".

Sakura threw Itachi a quick glare, which he did in fact notice.

"Well how could anyone not help you Sakura-_chan_?" he teased.

"Hmm I don't know. How could they indeed" Sakura mock-pouted at Genma.

"Genma" Itachi interrupted firmly.

Genma laughed, "Aw quit being such a kill joy Itachi-taichou".

"….." Itachi clearly did not feel the need to say anymore than that.

Well Genma knew when to not push his captain any further. That was a stupid idea seeing as Itachi-taichou was unforgiving. "Come on Sakura-chan lets get you sorted out so we can leave soon".

'Ah so the 'chan' was sticking, Itachi thought to himself.

"You're in Uchiha-san's Anbu team?" Sakura asked, mildly surprised. This was news to her. The big flirt was part of a very successful Anbu team.

"Why yes I am pretty lady. So we will be spending much more time bonding" he grinned mischievously.

Itachi simply sighed. Perhaps he had underestimated the effect of a female around his team. Mainly Genma.

Sakura and Genma walked towards the reception and he simply knocked three times. A man appeared and grunted in response.

Genma turned half of his body around and looked Sakura up and down slowly. Sakura however was not pleased with that.

"Women's small" he announced.

A pair of hands quickly shoved dark material through the small gap in the window and then the man disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.

"There you go. You're all set" he handed Sakura the clothes.

"Great I will go put it on now"

"Let's go into this room". He walked up to the wall and placed his hand against it. After a few seconds a door appeared out of nowhere. He stepped aside and motioned for her to go inside.

Sakura walked into the room with Genma following close behind.

Itachi's eyes followed the pair enter the room, mainly Genma.

"Thanks" Sakura unfolded her new uniform not bothering to look at him.

Sakura turned around and looked at Genma expectantly implying he should leave.

"Oh don't mind me Sakura-chan" he grinned cheerfully, "I won't get in the way unless you want me t—"

He was cut off mid sentence by a sharp punch in the shoulder that sent him flying out of the smaller room and straight into the wall on the opposite side of the large room. Large cracks appeared in the wall as debris flew everywhere.

"PERVERT" Sakura shrieked after him.

Itachi had speedily sidestepped out of the way to avoid getting hit by Genma as he flew across the room.

Itachi shook his head and sighed loudly.

Idiot.

In reality Sakura really should not have injured Genma, seeing as they were leaving for a mission right then. However Genma **really **should not have been trying to watch Sakura undress. He slowly assessed the state of his teammate across the room.

Genma appeared to be conscious at least. Not exactly wide-awake but anything was better that fully unconscious.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to leave. Itachi flash stepped towards the exit hastily. It was time to stop messing around and get ready for the mission now.

After waiting a few moments to make sure the pervert was sufficiently injured, Sakura changed into the Anbu uniform and placed her white porcelain mask with red markings that resembled a rabbit on her face.

Sakura marched out of the room angrily and walked up to Genma.

He was slumped against the wall looking a little dazed when she approached. "Come on sleeping beauty we have places to be" baited Sakura.

"Your mood changes are scary…." Genma responded.

Sakura was puzzled now, "What mood changes?"

"Um I think I was mistaken there are no mood changes" he quickly corrected. There was no need to get punched again.

Sakura crouched down and moved her hands towards his shoulder. Wordlessly she looked at him and he realised she was totally fine with him now. Unfortunately in order for her to feel better she had dislocated his shoulder.

"Brace yourself" her tone slipping into professional medic mode automatically.

Sakura quickly popped his shoulder back into position and began healing the injured area immediately. Her soothing healing chakra took away the last bit of pain from his shoulder carefully. Genma slowly stood and moving his left shoulder around carefully.

"Good as new! This is why you're my favourite medic in the whole world" he smiled cheekily. He was always good at diffusing situations.

Sakura made an amused sound. "Well I _am _the best medic in the whole world" she said half joking, half serious.

"I'm SO telling the Godaime you said that"

"Tattle tale" she retorted.

"Come on let's get going miss cocky" Genma chuckled.

"Hey I was just pointing out facts there, there was no cockiness involved"

"Yeah yeah you get ready to explain that to the Godaime"

Hmph.

It was then Sakura realised Itachi wasn't there anymore. "Where did Uchiha-san go?"

"Uchiha-san? Ha! Just loosen up a bit and call him Itachi-san, Sakura-chan" Genma replied, "And he most likely left to go meet our other teammate at the gates. Being captain and all he has to be there before us technically"

"Oh" Well that made sense.

They both started running towards the Konoha gates to finally begin the mission. Sakura knew that their captain would not let her seriously injure a teammate again while they were out on their actual mission. So it would be better to attempt to control her anger a little better than had that day.

On a normal day Sakura didn't manage to punch this many people, but this was no normal day. Sakura was finally going on her first Anbu mission. She had been waiting for this day for so long and she was going to make sure that she would kick ass on it.

* * *

><p><strong>Well Sakura may need to control her anger a little bit hehe. <strong>

**But now we know that Itachi, Sakura and Genma are going on a mission together. I wonder who the fourth team member is, hmm...**

**Next chapter it's time for them to start their Anbu mission together. It will be posted within the week for sure! **


End file.
